Babies born to women abusing opioids on the rise in R.I.

Sunday

Apr 12, 2015 at 11:15 PM

In 2013, 76 Rhode Island babies were diagnosed with the syndrome of newborns exposed to alcohol and prescription painkillers — nearly double the rate in 2006, according to the advocacy group R.I. Kids Count in its annual Kids Count factbook.

By Linda Borg Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — In 2013, 76 Rhode Island babies were diagnosed with the syndrome of newborns exposed to alcohol and prescription painkillers — nearly double the rate in 2006.

Not only is opioid use on the rise among adults here and nationwide, so is the number of babies born to women who use these prescription painkillers during pregnancy, according to Rhode Island Kids Count, a nonprofit childhood research and advocacy organization.

This is the first time that R.I. Kids Count has reported data on this topic, which it released in its annual Kids Count factbook Monday at the Crowne Plaza in Warwick. The factbook is a compendium of data on the health and well-being of children from birth to adolescence.

Kids Count has been collecting information on infants born at the "highest" risk for some time. While those numbers are declining, that is not the case with infants born to mothers taking opioids.

"Generally, there are high percentages of Rhode Islanders with substance-abuse issues, and that includes pregnant women," said Kids Count Executive Director Elizabeth Burke Bryant. "And so it is a critical issue because it affects the health and well-being of their children.

"The alarm bell was sounded by the state Department of Health," she said Friday. "We want to make sure we are responding in the most strategic way possible."

Every year for at least the last decade, Rhode Island has been among the top five states in the country for illicit drug use among residents age 12 and older. In 2009, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration ranked Rhode Island third-highest in the country for the non-medical use of prescription pain relievers.

In 2012, thanks to increased awareness and enforcement, the number of opioids prescribed in Rhode Island started to decline.

Dr. Marcia VanVleet, director of the newborn service team at Women & Infants Hospital, says rising numbers of babies born with exposure to prescription painkillers is a national trend. Rhode Island, she said, tends to be slightly higher than the national mean.

"It’s occurring nationally because women of childbearing age are getting more prescriptions for opiates," she said, "initially legally, but then there is the potential for becoming addicted."

VanVleet said these women are not necessarily using street drugs such as heroin. Typically, her office sees women who were prescribed painkillers for a valid condition or a procedure. Some pregnant mothers with chronic conditions are not even aware that they have become dependant on the drugs.

"What we know nationally is that of the women who say they are taking opioids, 6 percent admit to using prescription drugs and only 0.06 percent admit to using heroin," she said.

These women also tend to be in their 20s and early to mid-30s.

Babies exposed to prescription painkillers are not addicted, but they need medicine to help them withdraw from the drugs, VanVleet said. At Women & Infants, these infants are evaluated based on a scoring system that looks at 20 health characteristics. If an infant scores higher than an 8, that child will need help with withdrawal.

It takes three weeks to wean a baby off an opioid. Babies who have been exposed to painkillers have trouble feeding. They are easily over-stimulated. They vomit. They have diarrhea. They lose weight. At Women & Infants, doctors and nurses typically keep the baby with the mother but make sure that noise and bright lights are minimized to mimic the baby’s in-utero environment.

Kids Count collects data on 71 aspects of children’s lives, from health and safety to education and economic well-being. Here are some of the organization’s other findings:

• In 2014, Rhode Island had more child maltreatment reports and investigations than any year since 2006. The reports to the Department of Children, Youth and Families’ hotline has been on the rise for five straight years.

• Chronic absenteeism (students who miss at least 18 days of school ) is a problem at all grade levels. During the 2013-2014 school year, 12 percent of elementary school students, 15 percent of middle school students and 24 percent of high school students were chronically absent.

• Although out-of-school suspensions have declined 37 percent since 2008-2009, minority and special-education students are suspended in greater numbers than their white and regular-education peers.

• On the plus side, Rhode Island ranks highest in the U.S. for fully immunized children.

• Rhode Island also ranks high in health insurance coverage for children, with almost 95 percent receiving insurance.